Reflexive environmental law (REL) enables an understanding of how law builds potential for private company reflexivity. Reflexivity helps to avoid lock-in, and enhances learning and self-organization to resolve complex sustainability challenges. Thus far, REL theory has excluded traditional command-and-control regulation as a form of REL. This limits the potential of REL to understand how legislation can drive reflexivity and create more effective governance. Our framework expands the definition of REL and sets out six types of regulatory instrument found in legislation that may, or may not, constitute forms of REL. The framework comprises three reflexive drivers – autonomy, accountability, and adjustability – and, under these, eleven REL techniques. Through examples taken from European environmental legislation, we explain the drivers’ relationship with different regulatory instruments. This taxonomy empowers regulators and scholars to understand both the reflexive potential of regulatory instruments and the possibility to make instruments more reflexive in specific contexts.

反身环境法 (REL) 使人们能够了解法律如何为私营公司的反身性发挥潜力。反身性有助于避免锁定，并增强学习和自组织以解决复杂的可持续发展挑战。到目前为止，REL 理论已经排除了传统的命令与控制监管作为 REL 的一种形式。这限制了 REL 理解立法如何推动反身性并创造更有效治理的潜力。我们的框架扩展了 REL 的定义，并列出了立法中可能或可能不构成 REL 形式的六种监管工具。该框架包含三个反射性驱动因素——自主性、责任性和可调整性——以及在这些驱动器下的十一种 REL 技术。通过欧洲环境立法的例子，我们解释了驱动因素与不同监管工具的关系。这种分类使监管机构和学者能够了解监管工具的自反潜力以及使工具在特定背景下更具自反性的可能性。